New Microsoft Zune HD :
Microsoft Zune HD
Microsoft have officially announced the Zune HD for pre-orders, with the OLED touchscreen PMP set to land in pockets on September 15th. Given the numerous leaks over the past few days, it comes as no great surprise to hear that the Zune HD is priced at $219.99 for the 16GB model and $289.99 for the 32GB model. Your money gets you a 3.3-inch 16:9 480 x 272 display, NVIDIA Tegra chipset and – via an optional dock – 720p output for your HDTV.
There’s also WiFi, an integrated HD Radio and a new internet browser with multitouch and an on-screen keyboard. Pre-order buyers can only choose between the black 16GB Zune HD and the platinum 32GB model, but after the PMP officially launches it will be available in five different colors and with a choice of ten different engravings by “guest artists”.
Specifications:
- Price as Tested: $289.99 Direct
- Storage Capacity: 32 GB
- Player Type: Flash MP3 Player
- Radio: Yes
- Recording, Voice: No
- Recording, Line In: No
- Video Recording: No
- Music Playback Formats: AAC, MP3, WMA, Protected WMA
- Photo formats: JPEG
- Video Formats: MPEG4, WMV, H.264
- Screen Resolution: 480 x 272 pixels
- Screen Size: 3.3 inches
- Dimensions: 4.0 x 2.1 x 0.4 inches
- Weight: 2.6 oz
Review :
Microsoft have certainly come up with a distinctive UI, and though as a first showing there are some issues still to be ironed out, it’s generally easy to use. Rather than attempting to replace everything with pictorial icons, there’s plenty of clear white text on a black background. Herein lies the OLED display’s key drawback, or at least that of the glass and color scheme. Screen reflections are very noticeable, occasionally to the point where some experimental angling is required in order to see the screen clearly; a matte-finish screen protector would clear this up quickly, though.
The Zune HD’s homescreen is, like Windows Mobile 6.5, made up of a list of functions – videos, pictures, radio, etc – but there’s also a slide-out Quickplay menu triggered by the side button. That offers speedy access to favorites – here called “Pins”, and which can be made up of music tracks, videos, photos and more – as well as play history and most recently added content. It also shows details of the currently playing track, complete with album art. Like with the iPod touch there’s kinetic scrolling to navigate through lists of media, though as you do so there’s no side list of letters to jump to a particular title or artist; instead, you tap any of the letters which are in-line with the list, and that pops up the full alphabet to choose from.
Microsoft Zune HD
